MOTORSPORT: Sensational start for BMW in electric series

BMW is off to a flying start as a works team in Formula E.

It won the opening round of the fifth season of the all-electric open-wheeler series in the world’s oil capital, Saudi Arabia, on the debut of the category’s Gen2 cars with longer battery life that has eradicated the need for mid-race car swaps.

The previous two seasons BMW was a technical partner to America’s Andretti Autosports, which finished only seventh and 10th – and last – in those seasons.

Portuguese driver Antonio Felix da Costa delivered the historic narrow win for the Munich-based manufacturer ahead of the reigning champion, Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne, driving for the Chinese-owned Techeetah team associated with French car brand DS and run by Australian engineer Mark Preston.

Vergne and his teammate, German Andre Lotterer, overtook da Costa before drive-through penalties for exceeding the level of power regeneration allowed.

Eight drivers were penalised for that offence, with Preston attributing the problem that cost his drivers a likely one-two finish to software issues. He said the issue may be related to the introduction of the active braking systems on the Gen2 cars.

Vergne and Lotterer dropped to fifth and seventh after their drive-throughs but recovered for the Frenchman to finish just 0.4 seconds behind pole-position starter da Costa, while Lotterer got back up to fifth. Belgian Jerome d’Ambrosio was third, four seconds back, for India’s Mahindra Racing and New Zealander Mitch Evans fourth for Jaguar Racing after leading in the late stages.

While it was a great day for BMW, reigning champion team Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler’s drivers, German Daniel Abt and Brazilian Lucas di Grassi, finished only eighth and ninth.

“We need to improve everything,” said season three champion di Grassi.

Nissan is the first Japanese manufacturer in the series, taking over Renault’s entry, and its Swiss driver and season two champion Sebastien Buemi and Brit Oliver Rowland were sixth and seventh.

Two other German marques, Mercedes and Porsche, are to enter the category next season.

However, Mercedes is already associated with the Monaco-based Venturi team and HWA, the three-pointed star’s former dominant German touring car outfit, made its Formula E debut at the weekend.

The four cars of those two teams were way back in the pack.

While BMW is now a fully-fledged works team, Andretti still owns its Formula E entry.

BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt said “it looks like our preparation back home was pretty good”.

“It (the victory) feels really great – historic for us,” Marquardt said.

“It was a long time in the preparation – from the guys back in Munich, powertrain and integration from our motorsport side, together with the Andretti guys in testing [at Valencia in Spain, which BMW topped].

“To bring that on to the race track here [on the streets of the Ad Diriyah district in Riyadh] for the first time and have the first victory from pole straight away, you definitely can’t have it any better.

“All the [other 10] teams here have quite a bit more experience than us.”

Da Costa, who won in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the Japanese forerunner of Techeetah, Team Aguri, in the category’s first season, said “nobody really gave Formula E a lot of credit (back then), but it’s impressive to see how much has changed – to win now is definitely a different feeling, just amazing” said da Costa, who was only 15th in last season’s drivers’ championship.

Riyadh’s 2.495km track was likened by drivers to Japan’s undulating Suzuka but with much closer safety walls.

Changes were made even before the race to the new ‘attack mode’ activation zone to improve visibility for the drivers.

The drivers were required to pass through the zone twice, collecting an extra 25kW of power that they could engage for four minutes each time. Nine drivers used that boost in the last three laps. Races are now 45 minutes plus one lap.

The next of the 12 events is at Marrakesh in Morocco on January 12.

A big test was held on the Riyadh circuit the day after the opening race, with nine women taking part – including Supercar driver Simona de Silvestro for the Venturi team, driving the car in which Brazilian Felipe Massa had finished 14th the day before. It was de Silvestro’s first time back in Formula E since she drove for Andretti in 2015.

She was 10th on the timesheet in the afternoon session, with her best lap a little more than 2.3 seconds slower than pacesetter Sam Bird but she tweeted that it had been a “super positive day”.

“We had a big testing plan to go through and learned a lot,” she said. “Unfortunately no qualy mode run for us, but times were strong on 200kW!”

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s Women in Motorsport Commission president Michele Mouton attended the test and said: “In order to see the potential of the best women drivers in the world, they need to get a chance to drive with the best teams, which is exactly what is happening here.”